People Are Legitimately Furious At Apple Over The iPhone 5's New Connector

My parents are in town and last night at dinner, Apple's new iPhone came up.

The first thing my dad said was: "I heard they changed the cord. That's pretty annoying."

He was right on both counts.

It's true that Apple changed the type of connector you use to plug in your phone to your computer, outlet, and accessories like speakers or car audio systems.

It's also true that it's very annoying that Apple has done this.

My dad isn't alone. Lots of consumers are already complaining about the change.

They have good reason to!

Apple is selling an adapter for the new connector, but there are two huge problems with it.

It costs $29, which can really add up if you buy one for every iPhone-connected gadget you have.

On the adapter's product page, Apple writes: "Video and iPod Out not supported." Update: Despite Apple's wording, this does not mean the adaptor won't support audio and video. According to Anandtech's Jason Inofuentes, it means the adapter will not support composite video out, analog video, and "iPod Out" connections in BMWs.

One reader wrote us an email explaining that buying adapters for all his iPhone-connected devices and replacing the gadgets that won't work with the iPhone 5, even with an adaptor, would cost him about $1,300.

"This has definitely changed my mind with regard to purchasing of a new iPhone," he writes.

There is one group of people that is thrilled with the change: the people running companies that make accessories for iPhones. Through no fault of their own, all their products on the market just became obsolete and require replacing. Cha-ching!

Apple's only saving grace in all this is that the new connector is actually better than the old one. It's an improvement to its product.

How it could probably have handled this all better is pretty simple. Instead of charging $29 per adapter, it should charge $10, or something very close to cost.

Anything more seems very cynical—and is the $29 really worth scaring people away from buying new $600 phones?

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The Board Room

Editors' Picks

My really really good car audio adapter/charger - seriously it is radio based and actually works in the city!
The excellent speaker dock we have downstairs
The speaker dock in my daughters room
All of my existing $20/pop cables that I have accumulated over the years (OK no biggy)

Looks like a couple of $99 4s for me and the wife then. And yes I'm pissed. Maybe pissed enough to look at Android. I'm OK with the new plug, but the gimp adapter was a slimy move.